Bucks County Farmhouse Where Oscar Hammerstein Mentored Stephen Sondheim For Sale

How did a New York City native, the grandson of a great theatre impresario, come to write a song about corn as high as an elephant's eye and cattle standing like statues? And for that matter, where did he learn about scurrying chicks and ducks and geese?

As Michael Riedel writes in today's New York Post, Oscar Hammerstein II did a great deal of the writing it took to create musical theatre masterpieces like OKLAHOMA!, CAROUSEL and SOUTH PACIFIC in an 1840 farmhouse he owned Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Before the days of weekending in the Hamptons, the Broadway crowd was known to get away from Times Square with breaks from it all in Bucks County. It was at Highland Farm where the bookwriter/lyricist could stand on his porch and see the "bright golden haze on the meadow" and other rural sights that would inspire the opening song of his first musical with Richard Rodgers.

Sadly, the future of this home, so rich in theatre history, is in question, as current owner Christine Cole would like to sell it. Hammerstein's grandson William wanted to turn it into a museum and a theater, but his plan, estimated at $20 million, was turned down by the local zoning board, fearing traffic jams in the quiet community.

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